Santa Cruz County History - Arts

Statue of local figure Tom ScribnerAcross from Locust St. on Pacific Ave.Created by Marghe McMahon

Santa Cruz has long attracted artists of all kinds -- painters, sculptors, writers, and more. Today, the city honors this piece of the its history by featuring and encouraging public art.

The City Arts Commission of Santa Cruz works to enhance the aesthetic and cultural quality of life in Santa Cruz by creating policy for City Arts that emphasizes public art. This includes the website santacruzpublicart.com, which hosts photographs and information about local public art, including “SculpTOUR”, a rotating temporary sculpture exhibit.

The City Arts Commission also supports the Mural Program which offers incentives to business and property owners interested in mural projects. You can see photos of completed artwork in the Mural category on santacruzpublicart.com.

Santa Cruz City Arts also publishes a flyer for taking a Walking Tour of Santa Cruz Public Art. You can download a PDF version of the flyer here.

It is our continuing goal to make available a selection of articles on various subjects and places in Santa Cruz County. Certain topics, however, have yet to be researched. In other cases, we were not granted permission to use articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the Webmaster.